Non-thermal plasma treatment of volatile organic compounds: A predictive model based on experimental data analysis

•Analysis of experimental data from 69 scientific publications.•A model for predicting the performance of VOC treatment by nonthermal plasma.•Evaluation of the impact of quantitative and qualitative process parameters. Non-thermal plasma is an emerging alternative for removing VOC from polluted air streams. This technique has been studied in laboratory for more than twenty years and experimental data is abundant. However, mostly qualitative information has been obtained from that data and no model has been developed for predicting the treatment performance from a given set of parameters. In this paper, we establish such a model, based on experimental data extracted from 69 scientific publications. This model, obtained through a linear regression, uses both quantitative and qualitative variables to predict the energy yield of the treatment. In 80% of the data points, the measured energy yield lies between 0.6 and 1.75 times the predicted value. We also used the model to evaluate quantitatively the impact of several parameters of the treatment, such as the initial concentration, the presence of a catalyst or the reactor type. Being so, the model presented here is an invaluable tool for both scientists and engineers interested in the treatment of VOC by non-thermal plasma.